Conte Uncertain About Chelsea Future

Chelsea on Monday will battle Watford which is their next Premier League fixture. The blues have not been consistent at the second half of the season with a possibility of  losing out in the Champions’ league spot and also having their Manager face a likely sack.

Fourth-placed Chelsea are currently on the fourth position and are just a point ahead of Tottenham Hotspur after Arsenal dumped them out of the League cup and were beaten at the Stamford Bridge by Bournemouth.

The media reports have always suggested Conte might leave at the end of the season with coach being subjected to having issues to the transfer policy of the club.

Although the 48-year-old has been linked with a return to his former job as Italy manager, Italian football federation (FIGC) assistant commissioner Alessandro Costacurta said on Sunday that he has ruled himself out.

“As Conte reiterated the other day, he wants to continue working as a coach on a day-by-day basis at club level for at least the next 18 months, the length of his Chelsea contract, so he has pulled out of the running,” Costacurta said.

Conte has called on the Chelsea board to end the uncertainty over his future by publicly confirming they trust in his work.

One way or another he may well be disappointed.

The only time Chelsea have done anything similar was in Oct. 2015 when they released a statement backing Jose Mourinho following Chelsea’s worst start to a season since 1979. Two months later the Portuguese was sacked.

Conte’s methods underwent further scrutiny over the weekend when it was revealed that new signing Ross Barkley will miss Monday’s game at Vicarage Road after becoming the eighth Chelsea player to suffer a hamstring injury this season.

Conte has consistently said his squad is not strong enough, although striker Olivier Giroud and defender Emerson Palmieri were recruited last week in an attempt to provide more options.

Publicly at least, Conte is putting a brave face on the situation, refusing to confirm media reports he has been at odds with director Marina Granovskaia, one of owner Roman Abramovich’s most trusted employees, following November’s surprise departure of transfer chief Michael Emenalo.

Conte maintains that he intends to stay until at least until next summer when his contract runs out.

“We are doing the maximum for this club. If the club understands this and the club wants to extend a new contract, we can talk,” he said.

“We can talk. Why not? My contract expires in 2019. My desire and my will are to continue to work with this club.”

Although Conte’s position would be bolstered by a strong showing against Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16, he knows that, after 18 months in the job, he has survived longer than most at a club which has employed 10 managers in as many years.